Recent Articles

“Under Section 1334, [Office of Personnel Management]-sponsored plans would compete nationwide against private health insurance. In effect, Congress is creating a special set of plans, governed by special rules, in a closed national ‘market.’ Instead of fair competition with private health plans, Congress is sponsoring the equivalent of a national monopoly. That the OPM-sponsored plans are offered by private contractors (like Medicare contractors) is irrelevant. For consumers, it is hard to imagine anything worse than a government-sponsored ‘private’ monopoly.”

“ObamaCare’s advocates want you to believe that, without their 2,300-page, trillion-dollar extravagance, half of America would lose their health insurance. The reality is that preexisting conditions is a problem affecting a minute fraction of Americans, a problem that could be solved with a simple, one-page bill.”

“If liberals and Democrats want to make the fight over Obamacare about taxes, spending, and the budget deficit, Republicans should allow them to do so. The public has already taken sides in this fight. Taxpaying Americans are never going to be convinced that the government has found a way to give away new benefits to millions of people, with no cost to them or anyone else.”

“Ah, I know what you’re thinking. How can a law that raises the cost of labor by up to $6.00-an-hour for every worker in the country and has significant taxes on capital as well possibly be a job creator? (See my debate yesterday with the editors of USA Today over the magnitude of expected job losses these provisions will generate.) The answer: Cutler’s study ignores those things. Ignores them? Yes, ignores them.”

“Tomorrow night the House of Representatives will debate the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), what many call ‘ObamaCare.’ Some critics complain that this is a futile exercise because there is little chance of short-term success. But that’s the wrong way to look at it.”

“In the congressional floor debate leading up to the repeal vote, Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) highlighted a point that has generally gone under the radar: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that Obamacare would increase the national debt. The CBO writes that, by the end of 2019 alone, Obamacare ‘would amount to a net increase in federal deficits of $226 billion.’ Elsewhere, in a conclusion that only the truly credulous could accept, the CBO says that Obamacare would decrease deficits. But, as the CBO notes, that’s before ‘factoring in that the [Medicare Hospital Insurance] trust fund would hold more than $358 billion of additional government debt by the end of 2019 compared with its holdings under current law.'”

“The House voted Wednesday evening to repeal the Health Care law by a count of 245-189, and already Republicans are turning up the heat on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow a vote for repeal in the Senate. All 242 House Republicans voted Wednesday evening for repeal. Three House Democrats joined the House GOP in supporting repeal: Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, and Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas.”

“House Republicans are voting to repeal the health-care overhaul bill today, and the Democratic message machine has whirred into 4th gear or so, easing up just shy of the seizure-inducing pace of spin seen during campaign season.
People don’t want the law repealed, Democrats say. The GOP posturing is unpopular and lame, they allege. ‘Not only would repeal not pass, but according to a poll by AP over the weekend, three out of four people don’t want it to,’ a Democratic leadership spokesman told the Las Vegas Sun.
Well, don’t believe it — at least not on its face. People do want to repeal health reform … when given only two options: repeal it or leave it the same.”

“Once ObamaCare becomes fully effective in 2014, the cost of newly eligible Medicaid enrollees will be almost fully covered by the federal government through 2019, with federal financial support expected to be extended thereafter. But ObamaCare provides states with zero additional federal financial support for new enrollees among those eligible for Medicaid under the old laws. That makes increased state Medicaid costs from higher enrollments by ‘old-eligibles’ virtually certain as they enroll into Medicaid to comply with the mandate to purchase health insurance. This study estimates and compares potential increases in Medicaid costs from ObamaCare for the five most populous states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas.”